The largest and most comprehensive bibliographic database in the world is the WorldCat® database from OCLC. It comprises millions of online records built from the bibliographic and ownership information of contributing libraries. Cataloged items span thousands of years and nearly every form of human expression. Records exist for physical items, electronic content, born-digital works, and digitally preserved artifacts. WorldCat database records represent items from hundreds of languages and cultures in hundreds of countries and territories around the world. Item records are written in many languages and the database supports cataloging in many different scripts.
Because holdings contained in the WorldCat database are extensive, libraries need automated tools to review and analyze them. One such tool is the WorldCat collection analysis, a web-based service that provides automated analysis and comparison of library collections based on holdings information contained in the WorldCat bibliographic database. In particular, it allows a library to evaluate its holdings by identifying unique items, overlaps, and gaps in the collection and to compare its holdings by evaluating its collection against the collections of other libraries.
The features and functionality of WorldCat collection analysis provide libraries with a substantial amount of information about their holdings. The ability to compare collections between libraries can be helpful to the libraries in identifying “gaps” in their holdings. For a library that wants to expand its holdings, the differences between its holdings and the holdings of other libraries may help the library decide what materials to add to its collection. The library may decide to purchase for its collection materials that are frequently found in other libraries' collections and therefore, potentially of interest to its own patrons.
Although comparisons and information about differences between library holdings may provide some guidance in selecting new materials, there is a chance that the newly purchased materials are not of great interest to the patrons of a particular library. Before purchasing additional holdings, it would be helpful to a library to have information about the needs of its patrons and the materials that are most likely to be of interest to its patrons. One way to gauge the interest of patrons in a library's holdings is to analyze inter-library loan transactions. The ability to review and analyze materials that a library's patrons are requesting from other libraries can help a library identify materials that are likely to be of interest to its patrons. The volume of data related to inter-library loans, however, is substantial. Libraries process tens of millions of inter-library loan transactions each year. Therefore, there is a need for an automated tool to analyze inter-library loan transactions to identify holding needs for a library.